Bryan Colangelo

Bryan Paul Colangelo (born June 1, 1965) is an American basketball executive who was the former general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He also served as president of basketball operations for Philadelphia and Toronto.

He is the son of Phoenix sports mogul Jerry Colangelo.

He graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and applied economics.

Colangelo was hired by the Suns front office in 1991.

In addition to his work with the Suns, he served as president of Phoenix Arena Sports (PAS), the owning entity of the Arizona Rattlers team of the Arena Football League and the operating entity of the Phoenix Mercury team of WNBA from June 1991 through June 2002.

He won the AFL Executive of the Year award in 1993 for his work with the Rattlers.

The Rattlers won the championship in 1994 and 1997 and the Mercury played in the WNBA finals in 1998.

In 1995, Colangelo succeeded his father as general manager of the Suns.

During his tenure as Phoenix's general manager, Colangelo made a number of transactions that have received wide praise across the NBA, including the drafting of would-be superstars Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire.

Colangelo traded Jason Kidd to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, and then traded Marbury and oft-injured Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks for several contracts.

The additional salary cap space created by this trade allowed Colangelo to sign Steve Nash back from the Dallas Mavericks in the summer of 2004.

Nash would go on to be the 2004–05 and 2005–06 NBA Most Valuable Player, and the Suns would go 62–20 and claim the top playoff seed in the Western Conference in the 2004–05 season.

In 2004, the Suns were sold to a group of investors led by Robert Sarver, although Colangelo stayed on as president and general manager.

He was the 2005 and 2007 recipient of the NBA Executive of the Year Award.

Colangelo grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where his father served as general manager (and eventually owner) of the Phoenix Suns.

After graduating from Central High School, Colangelo attended Cornell University, where he played as a guard for the Cornell Big Red men's basketball team.

After graduating from Cornell, he moved to New York City, where he worked in real estate.

As a result, Colangelo was awarded the 2005 NBA Executive of the Year Award.

In the summer of 2005, Colangelo traded shooting guard Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks for two future first-round picks and Boris Diaw, who then won the 2006 NBA Most Improved Player Award.

Colangelo also dealt Quentin Richardson to the Knicks.

After the loss of these two players and the loss of Stoudemire for virtually the entire season (only playing in 3 regular season games), the Suns once again led the Pacific Division.

Many have credited their significant turnaround from a 27–55 in the 2005–06 season to the changes made by Colangelo, in which he brought in nine new players to the Toronto Raptors' roster.

Shortly after the Raptors fired Rob Babcock in January 2006, rumors began swirling that the team was pursuing Colangelo despite the Raptors' claims that they were initiating an "exhaustive" search for a new general manager.

On February 27, 2006, Colangelo resigned from his position with the Suns, and on February 28, 2006, the Raptors announced him as their new president and general manager.

On May 23, 2006, Colangelo and the Raptors were awarded the first overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft.

On June 8, 2006, Colangelo pulled his first trade since he joined the Raptors by swapping first-rounder Rafael Araújo for Robert Whaley and Kris Humphries with the Utah Jazz.

He completed his second trade by sending forward Eric Williams, fan favorite Matt Bonner and a 2009 second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for center Radoslav Nesterovič on June 21, 2006.

The Raptors also announced that they had waived Whaley.

Colangelo traded Charlie Villanueva, who was runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, for Milwaukee Bucks point guard T. J. Ford.

Colangelo picked the 20-year-old Italian Andrea Bargnani with the first overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft which was held in New York City on June 28, 2006.

This also made Bargnani the first European selected first overall in the history of the NBA draft.

He also signed several free agents from European teams, including Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker.

However, the drafting of Bargnani would cause some serious criticism later on after performing lesser to expectations as a #1 selection.

On July 16, 2006, Colangelo signed Bosh to a contract extension which was in effect starting from the 2007–08 season.

The contract was for three years plus a player option for the fourth year, and had the potential to pay Bosh up to US$65 million over the four-year span.

In 2007 the Raptors clinched the Atlantic Division, with a 47–35 record, for the first time in franchise history.

Colangelo was awarded the 2007 Executive of the Year Award in the weeks following the Raptors' series loss to the Nets in the first round of the playoffs.

During the offseason, Colangelo gave the 2009 and 2011 second-round draft picks to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Carlos Delfino.

He also signed Jason Kapono to a multi-year contract with the Raptors.